Paul finishes out his list of “virtues of the mind” with “if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things….” (Phil 4:8). Excellence is something we as Christians often put to the side. We figure that we are children of God, so anything we produce is going to be just fine without the same…

When Paul tells us to think about pure things (Phil 4:8), I believe he is talking about keep our thoughts free from clutter, dirt, garbage, and sin. Purity is about cleanliness. When we take a shower, we are cleaning off the dirt and starting fresh with a pure body. So also our thoughts become darkened…

The second type of virtuous thought Paul tells us to have in Philippians 4:8 is that which is “noble” or “honorable.” This is the Greek word semnos, which is used only four times in the Greek New Testament, all by Paul. Here are the four uses (copied from the teknia.com website in the Greek Dictionary…

Paul tells us in Philippians 4:8 to think about things that are true, noble, right…. (and a long list of other virtuous things). Let’s look at the first one: True. True is a term that represents the standard for something. You can travel northward and go generally north or you can go “true north”, which…

A few years ago I started taking interns along for some of my summer camps. They assist me by teaching juggling workshops to campers, running my merchandise table, and sometimes even speaking and performing on the stage during gathering sessions. I love having these interns around. It takes a lot of weight off my shoulders…

One family tradition that we have recently started is a simple dinner time question: “What was your favorite part of the day?” Kezzie loves to both ask and answer this question. It makes for a fun time to recap the day’s events and talk about the things we value in life. I thought I would…